A HUGE £26m bill could land on Tameside hospital chiefs' laps next year if all claims for medical blunders have to be paid out.

They estimate almost £22m could be awarded in damages if all the claims they now face go against them. The other £4m would be legal costs. They emphasise, however, that they don't expect to have to pay all the claims.

The estimate came as Professor Rory Shaw, newly appointed head of the new health watchdog, the National Patient Safety Agency, said he wanted NHS staff to feel they could report mistakes in a blame-free manner.

But hospital chief Phil Dylak said a higher bill didn't mean more blunders: "Everybody is getting more claims, but that doesn't mean the care is deteriorating.

"It just means awareness of how to make a claim is increasing among the public. If anything medicine gets safer all the time."

He said a blame-free philosophy had always been the hospital's policy, adding it was only where there were underlying problems that improvements were made.

But he admitted the legal bill did divert money from patient care and that the bill this year will be higher than last. Last financial year over £1m was paid out in damages and legal costs for claims - the year before it was £522,000.

The hospital's acute trust, which deals with most of the hospital's business, has had 15 new clinical negligence claims since April 1, the start of the financial year. There have also been five other claims, including three made by employees.

Other claims, which can take years to resolve, are outstanding.

Mr Dylak, executive nurse and director of medical specialities, said: "Of course, a great number are defensible and it won't be anything like that that is paid out in the end. We are not putting aside £26m for the claims."

One factor for the expected rise is that the hospital are due to take on liability for some types of claims which are currently the remit of the health authority.

He said the hospital mirrored a national trend and blamed a rising number of claims on an increasingly litigious society - more and more people sue. Last financial year the claimants' legal fees paid by the hospital were £241,000, up from just £57,000 the year before.

"As more and more solicitors enter NHS law they get better at reclaiming costs for claimants," he said.